Nanoscale studies of domain wall motion in epitaxial ferroelectric thin films

Atomic force microscopy was used to investigate ferroelectric switching and nanoscale domain dynamics in epitaxial Pb(Zr0.2Ti0.8)O-3 thin films. Measurements of the writing time dependence of domain size reveal a two-step process in which nucleation is followed by radial domain growth. During this growth, the domain wall velocity exhibits a v proportional to exp-(1/E)(mu) dependence on the electric field, characteristic of a creep process. The domain wall motion was analyzed both in the context of stochastic nucleation in a periodic potential as well as the canonical creep motion of an elastic manifold in a disorder potential. The dimensionality of the films suggests that disorder is at the origin of the observed domain wall creep. To investigate the effects of changing the disorder in the films, defects were introduced during crystal growth (a-axis inclusions) or by heavy ion irradiation, producing films with planar or columnar defects, respectively. The presence of these defects was found to significantly decrease the creep exponent mu, from 0.62-0.69 to 0.38-0.5 in the irradiated films and 0.19-0.31 in the films containing a-axis inclusions. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.